


Water Scented

by Renkakirai



Category: Free!
Genre: Fluff, Love Confessions, M/M, So much fluff!!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-30
Updated: 2016-05-30
Packaged: 2018-07-11 01:56:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7021006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Renkakirai/pseuds/Renkakirai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rin has a major crush on Haru, so he want so appeal to his senses, specifically his sense of smell. Too bad nothing that’s water scented actually smells like water.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Water Scented

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a repost of a fic I posted on tumblr. It was actually the first fic idea I ever came up with for RinHaru, and it never would have gotten written if http://h2omosxual.tumblr.com/ hadn't encouraged me to actually write it.

“So, Haru’s first crush was…a waterfall?” Rin asked.

He stared at the smiling blond in front of him, but Nagisa continued to grin, and devour his parfait, as if he’d said nothing out of the ordinary.

“Mm hmm,” He answered around his spoon. 

“A waterfall,” Rin repeated.

Nagisa swallowed.

“Yeah! We were telling love stories during training camp, and Haru-chan got all starry-eyed over a memory of a waterfall.”

He took another bite.

“Well, maybe pool-eyed is a better expression. You know when he sees a pool and his eyes get all sparkly?” Nagisa opened his eyes wide to demonstrate. “Like that!”

“O—Oh,” was all Rin could say.

“Don’t worry, Rin-chan,” Nagisa said, seeming to notice Rin’s shift in mood, “we didn’t ask for his human first love. Maybe he has one of those too!”

“I’m not worried!” he said, trying to recover. “I mean, yeah, maybe I’m a little worried for my friend ‘cause that’s weird, but I mean, there’s no other reason.”

Rin couldn’t tell whether Nagisa was convinced by his act as merely a concerned friend, or not. He simply finished his parfait, and said they should hang out again soon, before he ran off to meet Rei, with whom he was apparently meeting up to shop for a spare swimsuit.

As strange as what Nagisa said had sounded, it still seemed entirely plausible. After all, Haru did have magazines with water features in them under his bed, and he’d gotten pretty embarrassed when Rin had discovered them.

Rin couldn’t believe he was doing this. It was embarrassing, and it probably wouldn’t even work, but his romantic heart wouldn’t let him give up without at least giving it his best shot.

Rin paid the bill at the café where he and Nagisa had eaten, and began his quest.

He had a pretty good idea of where to start. Gou often dragged him along on her shopping trips, and even if she hadn’t he was the type who liked to take care of himself, dress well, and smell nice.

His first stop was a shop he’d frequented with Gou. It was cosmetics shop, and though it had a men’s section, almost as soon as he stepped inside, he was greeted by a shop attendant, and asked if he was looking for a gift for his girlfriend.

“Ah, no, just browsing,” He muttered, but when the shop attendant retreated, he made a beeline for the fragrance section.

Most of the items on the shelf were perfumes and colognes with names like “desire,” and “passion.” Normally, these would have appealed to him, but he was looking for something specific.

Finally he spotted something promising, Aqua Di Gio by Armani.

He sprayed the tester on a sample paper and took a sniff. It was more citrus than water though; definitely not what he was looking for.

He tried a few other things, but nothing seemed right, so he decided to check out another shop.

At the next shop, he found a scent called Cool Water. He thought he’d hit the jackpot until he tried it.

It was certainly refreshing, with a hint of peppermint, and something spicy. It was nice, but it didn’t smell like water.

And so, his quest continued.

The next shop he visited, had something called Dancing Waters, which, like the last scent, was refreshing, but didn’t smell like water.

Discouraged, he went to the supermarket, and simply picked up some shampoo which purported to smell like Waterfall Mist.

He didn’t even bother smelling it. It probably didn’t smell like water, and he’d just be disappointed anyway.

He bought a few more things, some snacks, and even some meat, since Haru certainly wouldn’t have any, and made his way toward his friend’s house.

When he arrived, Haru greeted him at the door.

He eyed the bag.

“You brought food.”

“Just snacks,” Rin said, stepping into the house.

Haru took the bag from him, peeking inside, and heading to the kitchen.

“And meat, and,” Haru paused. “Shampoo?”

Once Rin had taken off his shoes, he chased Haru into the kitchen, and snatched the bag back.

“I was running out,” he said defensively.

Haru ignored the comment.

“At least put your meat in the fridge. It’ll go bad.”

Rin obeyed, leaving the bag and the rest of its contents on the counter.

“You already have meat?” Rin said, shocked at the discovery he made while placing his own purchase in the fridge.

“You were coming over,” Haru said.

Rin felt his face beginning to heat up.

“I knew you’d complain.”

He went from embarrassment, and a little happiness, to irritation in nothing flat.

“That’s not all I do,” He said. “And I eat fish sometimes too. You’re the one who only eats one thing.”

Haru shrugged.

“There’s too much food now,” he said. “Should we call the others?”

“No!” Rin said, only realizing he’d been a little too adamant after he noticed Haru’s eyes widen in shock.

“I mean, no. I uh, ran into Nagisa earlier, and he had plans with Rei tonight, so I mean, it’d just be Makoto, if he’s not busy, and one person doesn’t really make that big of a difference, does it?”

Haru shrugged.

“I guess you can have meat for breakfast too,” he said.

Rin let out a sigh of relief.

“So, do you want to take a bath while I make dinner?” Haru asked. “Or wait until after?”

“Ah, I guess I’ll go ahead,” Rin said.

He reached for his new shampoo.

“You know it doesn’t smell like water,” Haru said, a disgusted expression flashing over his face for just a moment.

“What?” Rin asked.

“That shampoo,” Haru said. “It doesn’t smell like water. I’ve tried them all. None of them do.”

Rin let out a little laugh.

“Well, I didn’t really— I mean, I just grabbed the first thing that was on the shelf.”

Haru locked eyes with him for a moment, before turning away to retrieve cookware from the cupboards, and ingredients from the refrigerator.

“Ah, I’ll go take a bath then,” Rin said.

“I left some clothes out for you,” Haru said without turning around. He was already beginning preparations for dinner.

Rin used his new, disappointing shampoo.

Haru was right. It didn’t smell anything like water. What was water supposed to smell like anyway? Did it even have a smell?

He associated it with the smell of chlorine, but that wasn’t really the smell of water.

He thought about the way Haru smelled when he got out of the bath, water still dripping down his neck in beads because he hadn’t bothered to dry off properly, the way the ocean smelled in the summer, when he and Haru would splash through the waves.

He couldn’t really land on a specific scent so much as the warm feeling in the pit of his stomach when he thought of Haru. It seemed he was taking over all of Rin’s thoughts.

He wasn’t even upset when he realized Haru had laid out that stupid Loosey-kun shirt for him to wear. It definitely wasn’t high fashion, but it was Haru’s favorite, so though he wouldn’t admit it out loud, he actually kind of liked wearing the stupid fish shirt.

He could already smell dinner at the top of the stairs, a mix of meat, Haru’s usual meal of mackerel, and some other side dishes.

“Dig in,” Haru told him, as he sat.

And he did.

Haru’s cooking was always good, even when he was stubborn, and only cooked mackerel.

As he ate, Rin wondered absently how Haru got to be such a good cook when he only ever cooked one thing.

“…smell good,” he caught Haru saying.

He looked up, and saw Haru staring at him with an earnest expression.

“What?” Rin asked.

Haru averted his gaze.

“I said you still smell good.”

“What?” Rin repeated.

“Don’t make me say it again,” Haru said, looking back up at him with a furrowed brow.

“I smell good?” Rin asked.

“Yes,” Haru answered after a long pause. “Even if your shampoo doesn’t smell like water…”

Rin felt his face grow hot. He was definitely blushing now.

“I—Why did you— You like the way I smell?” He asked.

Haru looked back down at his food, took a bite, carefully chewed and swallowed before answering again.

“Yes,” Haru said. “I like the way you smell.”

Rin wasn’t sure what to do with this new information, but he knew he couldn’t let it go to waste. He’d been looking for signs, for an opportunity for months, and this could end up being his only chance.

“I’m glad,” he said.

He let out a long sigh.

‘I’m glad? I’m glad? The best you can do is I’m glad? God, I’m an idiot!’ he thought, beginning to beat himself up, but then he saw it and stopped.

Haru was smiling, and blushing.

It wasn’t a big bright smile, like he’d smiled when Iwatobi had won their relay. It was small, shy, like the faint tinge of pink that came to his cheeks as he stared back down at his plate.

“Um, Haru,” he started, before he could give himself time to chicken out.

“Yes, Rin?” Haru asked, looking up at him.

“I um,” he stopped, took a breath, looked into Haru’s expectant gaze, “I like you.”

“I like you too,” Haru said.

It was too easy.

“You like me?” Rin asked.

“Yeah,” Haru said.

It couldn’t be that easy. After months, if he was being honest with himself, years, of secretly liking Haru, it couldn’t really be that easy.

“Um, Haru, I—” He stopped.

If Rin went on, if he explained, this blissful moment of hope could be crushed in an instant. 

If he didn’t go on though, he might never get the courage, and it might end up being years before he finally sorted out everything with Haru.

“Rin, I like you,” Haru said. “Not like Kou, or Makoto, or Nagisa, or Rei. I like you.”

“Really?” Rin asked, almost as shocked, no, maybe more, than when he’d said it for the first time, moments ago.

“Eat your meat,” Haru said, again, averting his gaze, and taking a bite of his own food.

They finished their meal, cleaned up, and spent the rest of their evening playing games, watching movies, everything they usually did, but it was a bit of a haze to Rin.

Several times throughout the evening, Rin had stopped, and asked again, “Do you really like me?” 

To which Haru sometimes replied with an exasperated “yes,” sometimes with a jab to the ribs, sometimes with a “shut up and watch the movie.”

When it came time for them to sleep, Rin was still in a semi state of shock.

“I uh, I’ll get out the futon,” Rin said.

“If you want,” Haru said.

Rin stared at him.

Haru turned away.

“Well, we’ve shared a bed before,” Haru said. “As long as you don’t try anything just because we’re dating now…”

“We’re dating now?” Rin asked.

Haru turned to him, with a flash of pain in his eyes.

“We’re not?” Haru asked.

“What? No! I mean, yes! I just—” he stopped and took a deep breath. “I just can’t believe this is all real yet. I mean I’ve had a crush on you since elementary school.”

“Really?” Haru asked.

“Well, I mean yeah. Wasn’t it obvious? I did transfer schools just to be with you.”

“Just to swim with me,” Haru said.

“I mean, at first it was just swimming,” Rin said. “I mean, I still love swimming with you, but, um, I uh, I it’s um, you too now.”

Haru smiled.

“So um, I just um… Screw it! Haru will you go out with me?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Haru said.

“And, um, can we still share a bed?” Rin asked, smirking a bit.

Haru glared.

“If it’s only sleeping,” he said.

Rin had meant to keep his word, but evidently they had both broken it sometime during the night.

When they woke up the next morning, Haru was curled into Rin’s chest, Rin’s arms were wrapped around Haru, and their legs were tangled together so that it was hard to tell which limb belonged to which boy from outside the sheets.

Rin woke first, his body clock was telling him to get up and go on his usual morning Run, but finding himself wrapped around the boy he’d been crushing on for years, he wasn’t about to move. 

Instead, he just lay there, watching Haru sleep, until he woke up.

It was adorable, the way Haru nuzzled against Rin’s chest before stretching, and opening one bleary eye at a time.

“Mm,” he mumbled, as he returned to consciousness, “you really do smell nice.”

Rin felt like his heart would stop, but it kept beating, albeit at a much accelerated rate, and he pulled Haru tighter against him.

“So, is it true your first love was a waterfall?” Rin asked.

“Go back to sleep,” Haru said, and closed his eyes again.

Well, it was pretty weird to have a waterfall as a first love, but Rin decided he didn’t really mind as long as he could be Haru’s last love.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> If you'd like to see more, feel free to check me out on tumblr http://renkakirai.tumblr.com/tagged/my-fic


End file.
